I think his problem is similar but to Lin's when driving, but in opposite ways. Lin when driving is better at passing close to the rim, while Harden is better at the kick it out. When Lin drives in, he's fine when he can make a pass near the rim, but when he jumps in the air (often to try to kick it out to a corner) he turns it over. Harden when he drives in aims to finish with contact if he's not kicking it out. Thats why it looks like hes driving straight into multiple players - he eants the contact, which sadly makes it look like horrible turnovers.
Omer and his buttery hands will help him break the record EASILY Still LOLing when James and Omer snapped at each other after Omer fumbled what felt like the 50th pass from James out of bounds
This. Giving up on Asik at this point would be a big mistake. We just have to keep feeding him until he is able to get those passes. He is freakingly good rebounder ffs, I am sure eventually he will start catching those passes.
I believe this streak is something Harden, maybe even Jordan could accomplish- at his peak, if he just puts his heart and mind into it, and NEVER gives up. In this, I believe, unto all. Go Hard-en go home!! (chant 3 times aloud, if you're with me! Cmon!!) Go Hard-en go home! etc.
If a guy drops 30 points on 15 shot attempts, goes perfect at the free throw line, and drops 8 assist... I'll forgive the turnovers. But I guess you have to find the holes in his game where you can.
There's really only one segment of the basketball fan universe that is preoccupied with finding holes in his game. The chasm between what average Lin fans think of Harden, compared to what average old school Rockets fans or NBA fans in general think of Harden is so huge. I wish there was a forum to discuss the Rockets that was just full of people who were rooting *for* the Rockets. The group of Lin fans pretending to be Rockets fans (not saying it's all Lin fans, but there are a lot of Lin fans like this) who only care about Lin have been a real bummer for me as I follow the Rockets this year. I enjoyed what Lin did last year, and I felt bad for him when it slowed down...I was rooting for him. Then I felt bad for him when the Knicks let him go. Now, after reading Lin fans harp on Harden since November, I've slowly and steadily begun to root for Lin to get traded or just benched. His (hardcore/unreasonable) fans have turned me against him. If you went to real Rockets fans on 10/30/12 and told them that the team would be 23-22 after 45 games, in the playoff hunt, and Harden would have the stats he has and an All-Star nod, I think an extremely high percentage of those real Rockets fans would have been surprised and happy.
Yeah the problem with his high turnovers lately is that he has also been struggling offensively so what you said doesn't apply to the streak (although I sorta agrees)
Just a fun fact.. James Harden is the only player in the league taking double-digit attempts at the line per game and he's also the leader in makes.
I'm curious to see how Harden stacks up in terms of a usage rate/turnover ratio compared to other scorers. I do believe he's more turnover prone than others, because he does make his living in the paint rather than settling for a lot of jumpshots. And just based on watching him in-game, he does need to get better. But certainly, I think there's some number of turnovers that just comes from handling the ball all the time. Anyway, it's abundantly clear that the Rockets need a 2nd guy to take that pressure off of Harden on offense.
Harden is double coveraged, even triple coveraged, a lot of times which causes a lot of the turnovers. Not saying that is the reason for all because some are pure carelessness but when I watch the pressure on him, I can somewhat understand it.
This. It would work wonders for him. As the player's game matures, they would eventually cut down on those turnovers. Not worried one bit. I don't think there's even one player who attacks the rim more than Harden right now and we all know that he's also the only player who averages double figures in free throw attempts per game. That's a crazy stat coming from a guard.
Harden Does have a midrange game, he showed it in OKC. I think it's definitely a coaching thing, maybe the whole "efficient shots" stuff Morey is into. I don't think it's a coincidence both Lin and Harden are barely utilizing any midrange when they buttered their break with it before coming to Houston. Jeremy had turnaround jumpers, floaters, pullups, etc in NY and hit on a high %. James also had a nice midrange jumper at OKC.
James Harden has a solid mid range J. I agree, its the system. Remember that Patrick Patterson's strength is his mid range game, look how the system has gotten rid of that.
James Harden barely took mid-range jumpers even as a Thunder. Presti runs his operation just as much on stat geek principles as Morey. The biggest difference is that he simply has a lot more talent. Especially the fact that he has Kevin Durant. The mid-range jumper by an opponent is the holy grail of all defenses. Every NBA defense strives to give up that shot. This isn't Moneyball. JVG preached it back before Morey came. And this isn't against guys like Harden, but also to defend Durant, Kobe, and every other superstar to ever play the game. If an offense is run correctly, Harden shouldn't have to shoot mid-range jumpers. Either the defender sags off and give him the 3, or he blows past his defender and get to the basket. And should help defense comes, Harden would make the correct read to pass to an open teammate. When done correctly, the mid-range jumper should not be part of the equation. Harden is not like Ray Allen or Reggie Miller. Coming off screens to get an open jumper is not his game. Not does it have to be. If he's settling for jumpers after jumpers, it would mean bad offense by the Rockets.
